Google, Wikipedia and other information resources have changed theworld in many ways, but their users generally search via words, not
numbers. Now, those who think about and work with numbers are helping
the world’s numeracy catch up with its literacy....

Numerical literacy? I love the idea of "numeracy."

Why is this important? Global health threats make the world seem ever
smaller. Viruses and other illnesses ignore borders and leapfrog from
continent to continent, exploiting new connections between nations,
goods and people. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and
multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) show how local outbreaks can
have global impacts within days. Yet the tools to combat these
illnesses do not travel nearly as efficiently as their pathogens....

Think of a medical study that is backed by experimental data and
statistical analysis. This study gets published in an academic journal,
and its findings are picked up by the mainstream media. The coverage
helps shape political debate, policy, funding and public opinion. It is
important that all of this information – both the mass-media sound
bites and the original experimental data and raw numbers – is widely
available. While no one will dispute the importance of publicity,
access to the original data is equally critical so that research,
interpretation and experimentation will continue.

It's often been said that the Internet improves information access. And with interpretive skill information can lead to knowledge. But without access to whatever numerical data is being bandied about, the full potential of the Web will go unrealized.